About the dueling art galleries at the old Superdive space

Yesterday, we reported that AD Projects has taken over the former Superdive space at 200 Avenue A. Just for clarification: This is just temporary. This is not the same art gallery concept that went before the CB3/SLA committee last month. The committee turned down that group's bid to take over the space.

This was the second time they had come before the Board. (The new venture is from the same group who appeared before the CB3 in November with the idea of a restaurant/lounge "that involves all the senses," including the now-legenedary smell machine.)

In April, CB3/SLA told the group — going as Not A Bookstore LLC — to do more (and better!) community outreach. They will appear again before the CB3/SLA committee on Monday.

For starters, they dropped the cutesy Not A Bookstore name and are going by Avenue A Hospitality LLC. The group did meet with neighborhood power brokers last Thursday.

Meanwhile, more about what's coming to 200 Avenue A is on the CB3 website. (Warning! PDF!)

The concept: An "art gallery with a full-service restaurant" open seven days a week. According to the CB3 questionnaire, their proposed hours are 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. Sunday through Tuesday; 11 a.m. - 4 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday. In total, there will be 19 tables, with a capacity (bar included) of 150. No TVs, though the yet unnamed art gallery-restaurant will employ a DJ for "ambient background music" and have "occasional acoustic" music.

In any event, this will be a more challenging sell now that the liquor license for this address has expired.

At your keg service

Oh, Superdive has their keg menu online now.

And I was never good at math and stuff. So, how much is in a keg? Thankfully, the Superdive site does the converting for me to make planning easier!

15.5 Gal = 165 - 12oz beers | 50L = 140 - 12oz beers
30L = 84 - 12oz beers | 20L = 56 - 12oz beers

"Another noisy bar" slated for Avenue A; actually, make that several noisy bars, perhaps

Unfortunately, I couldn't make the latest noisy bar community meeting on 13th Street last night...



I went to the one last summer in which the Superdive manager attended. I still recall the longtime resident who said that "this isn't a neighborhood that 'sits on its ass' and looked at the Destination and Superdive reps and said that they are officially 'put on notice.'"

If anyone attended last night and wants to pass along details... I'd appreciate it...

Anyway, there's plenty of reason for concern. Take a look at this month's CB3/SLA slate on Monday ... all sorts of activity on the northern stretch of Avenue A:

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades
-- El Camion (El Camion III Inc), 194 Ave A (trans/op) (The Raven)
-- Percy's (Steelbar 180 Inc), 210-212 Ave A (trans/op) (Al Diwan)
-- MBM Lounge Inc, 212 Ave A (trans/op) (Forbidden City)
-- Corp to be Formed, 503-505 E 12th St (trans/op) (I'll have more on this one - the former Mundial and Totem)

Plus, for good measure, the popular Westville at 11th Street is applying for a sidewalk cafe license...

Meanwhile, as I posted on Saturday, there was an "open house" this past Friday at 5 p.m. (!) for the new bar/restaurant going in the old Raven space at 12th Street and Avenue A...



I've asked several neighborhood power brokers about the open house... and no one knew a thing about it. Jill at Blah Blog Blah, who has chronicled many of the noise-related issues in this part of the neighborhood, said that she walked by Friday at 5:30 p.m. "I ... didn't notice any event."

And she echoed my thoughts. "Come to think of it, what an inconvenient time to have an open house, right when most of us working stiffs are still commuting. Maybe [the owner] thought he'd get his support from the students who live in the building."



Previously on EV Grieve:
New bar slated for 12th Street and Avenue A

Observations from last night's noisy bars meeting

At Superdive: "Went here for my bachelorette this weekend and was able to do a keg stand, bartend, dj, and dance on tables"

Sure, some EVG readers haven't been thrilled by Superdive. But over at Yelp, the reviews are starting to come in... and they've all been positive: Four stars (out of five) on average. Here are some excerpts:

"Went here for my bachelorette this weekend and was able to do a keg stand, bartend, dj, and dance on tables. That basically sums it up."

And!

Oh boy. This bar is complete madness... it is the place frat guys dream about. You can make your own drinks or buy an entire keg for your table. There is a random assortment of instruments in case you feel the need to play one and the DJ station is up for grabs, as long as you use your own Ipod. I'd like to tell you more, but I honestly can't remember...

Meanwhile, ForSureNot.com weighs in as well. FSN's take?:

Is this going to be the greatest bar that New York has ever seen? ...

It’s like the goddamn Wild West. I hope that they have a set of those swinging half-doors one of those saloon pianos that play by themselves and spittoons on the floor.

A Revolutionary Free For All with kegs and booze -– Please excuse me while I go get some tissues for John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to dry their eyes.

Guess where? "Frattier than the frattiest frat party"

Eater has another reader report on the Greatest Shitshow of Them All, Superdive. Of course.

"I checked out the now imfamous Superdive last night, and I was blown away by the place. I paid $7 to mix my own drink (blacklable on ice, filled to the rim), was with a group that bought a keg, and smelled the aroma of weed. I can also say the place is frattier than the frattiest frat party imaginable, and was populated by about 90% business-casual clad iBanker types, and the plain-looking, done-up to the nines girls that follow them around. I have absolutely no idea how that place plans to stay open, there are potential liabilities EVERYWHERE (health violations, SLA, lawsuits, whatever). The place is a massive house of cards."

Previously on EV Grieve.

What East Village bar will be expanding nationally today?

Yesterday came word that Nevada Smith's and Superdive are considering expanding their bars nationwide. True or not (at least in the case of Superdive), nothing shows financial health more than rumors of going national!

Kind of related. A new Beauty Bar outpost is opening in Chicago early next year.

Former Superdive space on today's SLA agenda

An Avenue A tipster tells us that the folks hoping to open a bar-gallery space at 200 Avenue A (the former Superdive, of course) is on today's agenda for the State Liquor Authority's full board meeting...

The people behind the "art gallery with a full-service restaurant" concept — who have appeared before and been rejected by the CB3/SLA committee three times — decided to go directly to the State Liquor Authority for its license.

The group, calling themselves Hospitality LLC, appeared before the CB3/SLA committee in November 2010 with the idea of a restaurant/lounge "that involves all the senses," including the now-legenedary smell machine. They came back in April, and were told to do more community outreach. The didn't have any better luck in May given the strong opposition from neighbors.

In case you are wondering... the board meeting starts at 10 a.m. at:

Harlem Center Tower Office Building
317 Lenox Avenue
New York, NY 10027
Entrance to the Main Lobby is located on Lenox Avenue near 126th Street.

March sadness: Superdive transfer off tonight's CB3/SLA docket

Superdive was originally on tonight's docket for a full transfer of their liquor license.... no more, though, as a look at the updated rundown shows... Perhaps the Super brass is too busy planning that Vegas expansion?

Is Superdive really open?

Superdive does look more open than usual... and the sign out front says they are open.... but as of 9 pm or so, it was deserted....

Year-end self serve

There were nearly 2,500 posts on EV Grieve this year. Here are a few of them... And none of these would have really worked without your comments...thanks for being part of this site...



LeSouk has really closed (Nov. 2)



Mars Bar regulars get in the way of a Drew Barrymore photo shoot (Oct. 19)

The Times goes to the Mars Bar with one of those guys who's in "Gossip Girl" (Oct. 17)



Reading reviews of Tompkins Square Park on Yelp (Oct. 15)



Updated! Mysterious, low-flying helicopter returns... (Oct. 12)



The summer of pink shirts (Sept. 23)



Page Six Magazine says the Bowery calls to mind "an L.A. vibe" (Sept. 11)



East 12th Street now home to "THE ONLY REAL FRAT HOUSE AT NYU!" (Sept. 9)



A note for the people on the terrace tossing sandals and doing things that "should be done in private" (Aug. 17)



Observations from last night's noisy bars meeting (Aug. 13)



Aces & Eight GM offers some clarification on previous posts, comments (Aug. 4)



Uh-oh (July 22)



Work on Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre begins at former Two Boots space (July 2)



At Superdive (June 26)

CB3 didn't approve a liquor license for Superdive; "a nice neighborhood Internet café-bookstore" becomes a bar with keg service at tables (June 24)

East Village, please meet your new nightmare (June 18)



The Hells Angels kindly request that hotel guests please refrain from sitting on their bench (June 16)



Residents discuss the problems created by the Cooper Square Hotel: Meanwhile, across the street, a party for a sports car (June 3)



So this guy walks into the Mars Bar in a green shirt with a pink sweater around his shoulders... (May 29)



Pearl Theatre relocating; what's next for 80 St. Mark's Place? (May 28)

Bar threatens to call cops on a Thursday afternoon because some girls were standing in line to get free prom dresses next door (May 21)

Looking at the LES: "Those bridge-and-tunnel places are what made this area better" (March 5)



Why people move away (Feb. 4)

The Chocolate Wars (well, not at all, but we needed something that sounds CONTROVERSIAL) (Jan. 23)



An EV Grieve investigative report: In search of the Penistrator (Jan. 20)

Champagne Tuesdays at Superdive: "I'm pretty certain that everyone in the bar had just recently moved to New York"

Well, you know, we haven't made it over yet for Superdive's Champagne Tuesdays just yet... A reader almost got in.



However, blogger Fired 'n' Fabulous was there. Here's an excerpt of her report:

As soon as I stepped foot into the bar, I instantly wanted to turn around and run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. It was so crowded, and the hodgepodge of people was really just...weird. Ya know in the movie "Clueless" when Cher walks through the school campus with Tai and explains all the different cliques? That's what it felt like (minus the cool kids). Probably the most annoying group of people I witnessed were the Upper East Side frat boys with their faded T-shirts, backwards caps and flip flops. They were totally out of their comfort zone, and this, no doubt, was their first time making it down past 42nd Street. Guys, do a favor for all of us and stay uptown where you belong.

I'm pretty certain that everyone in the bar had just recently moved to New York, and this was their first big night out. It had to be. They were just so gosh darn excited about everything. And there was one guy behind me that was talking extremely loud to a group of people about "having sex all day long." Whoa, cool man. Is that his get-laid tactic? Does he think that's a turn-on? Let's hope for his sake that's not the only Ace up his sleeve, or else he's gonna have one lonely winter.

Photo via.

Imperial Tavern and Superdive pretty much having the same New Year's Eve party

The new Imperial Tavern on Ludlow Street...



Superdive...

Post columnist defends the marginalized frat boy, people with college degrees

There's a humdinger of a column today in the Post titled "East Village bohemian snobs drive out the frat boys."




You need to read the article for yourself — that is, if you know how to read. ... A few excerpts to get you warmed up...

“Superdive made a lot of us into activists,” a 58-year-old former social worker named Dale Goodson told Capitalnewyork.com, which offered a fascinating history of Superdive.

So, what brand of humanity is considered undignified to a guy who spends his days shepherding the underclass?

Frat boys. Solid men in Big Ten regalia. Business types who spent their college years learning about balance sheets instead of transgressive modes of self-actualization. To these, the East Village can be as intolerant as a monocle-wearing English aristocrat from a P.G. Wodehouse novel, gazing down upon the polloi and pronouncing them a little too hoi.

And!

Community Board 3, at a meeting in which residents carried signs reading (really) “Not in my backyard,” last month opposed one businessman’s request for a liquor license at a new space to replace a former bar at 34 Avenue A — without even listening to his proposal. Silence a dissenting voice? Not very “Rent.”

Or maybe very “Rent” indeed. A bohemian’s idea of anarchy always seems to come with a surprisingly detailed set of standards. The story of the East Village might be how little things have changed — it’s still a cramped little hipster Vatican suspicious of outsiders.

But if your neighborhood is steeped in youthful rebellion, don’t be too outraged when free-spirited types come flocking around in a mad celebration of twentysomething exuberance. And don’t hate them just because their hero is Rex Ryan instead of Allen Ginsberg.

Business as usual at Superdive?

Oh, the magic is back... Superdive was closed Friday night for a private party...



Which reminds us of the heady days of this past summer...



Aug. 22


Aug. 16

"Entering the East Village come weekends is like wandering into Dante’s Eighth Circle of hell..."

A few East Village-related items from the "Best of Manhattan" issue of NYPress this week...

Best East Village Bar to Get Trashed and Evade the B-and-T Hordes: International Bar
120 1st Ave. betw. St. Marks Pl. & E. 7th St., 212-777-1643
Entering the East Village come weekends is like wandering into Dante’s Eighth Circle of hell, in which hair-sprayed ladies and six-pack men lick, suck and swallow their way into new, louder personalities that we’d like to pop in the mouth. Thank heavens for the neighborhood’s sole refuge, International Bar. In the dark, railroad-car confines, we love plugging metal into the juke and popping a squat at the bar — there’s often a seat, no matter the night. And then we order the combo that’s as deadly as fugu: a can of Schaefer and a two-ounce blast of sweet well whiskey, priced at $4.

Best Headstone for the Corpse of the Bowery: DBGB Kitchen and Bar
299 Bowery at E. 1st St., 212-933-5300
Celebrity chef Daniel Boulud may not be the first inspiration-starved millionaire to burnish up his Bowery project with the memory of punks, but his antiseptic new bistro, DBGB (an awkward pun on CBGB’s,) definitely makes him the No. 1 offender. Standing on the corner of the Bowery and E. First Street, it perfectly embodies the death of the punk rock idyll and the wide cursive script painted around its steel-framed gray windows quite literally gives the restaurant the look of a cemetery — or an up-market option in a Rochester Mall.


Best Bar Idea with the Worst Execution: Superdive
200 Ave. A betw. E. 12th & E. 13th Sts., 212-448-4854
Tableside keg service, democratic access to the soundtrack, mix-your-own cocktails—what could go wrong? In a word, everything. The ideal form of Superdive — which brings what we can only imagine to be the worst of the Midwestern college town drinking experience to the East Village — is bespoilt by human nature. Douchy dudes drink until they get shouty and shovy and play hip-hop ironically at unsafe levels. Mix that with girls who are impressed, and you’ve got a problem.

Doing it doggie style outside Superdive

With all the attention given to Superdive's reopening by a local hyperblogger, Bob Arihood thought he'd check out the scene in front of the Avenue A keg center for himself Saturday evening.

As he said, "The visit did not disappoint . The place was full of drunken folks ." And Bob caught these two going at it in plain view of everyone on the sidewalk (faces shaded to spare them any embarrassment at work) ...



Speaking of mating rituals... I have regrets that I didn't produce my camera quickly enough to capture a better shot of this Romeo carrying his girlfriend over his shoulder into the bar...